‘Ompong’ death toll rises to 25

Typhoon “Ompong” (international: “Mangkhut”) killed at least 25 people in the Philippines as it smashed homes and left behind torrents of floodwater, and is now on course to plow into China’s coast.

The massive storm, considered this year’s strongest, left key agricultural areas in Luzon underwater as its fierce winds tore trees from the ground and torrential rain unleashed dozens of landslides.

Because communications and electricity were knocked out across much of the region where about five million people were in the typhoon’s direct path, officials are still assessing the human and material cost.

In the northern town of Baggao in Cagayan province, the storm collapsed houses, tore off roofs and downed power lines. Some roads were cut off by landslides and many remained submerged.

Farms across Luzon, which produces a large portion of the nation’s rice and corn, were sitting under muddy floodwaters, their crops ruined just a month before harvest.

“We’re already poor and then this (storm) happened to us. We have lost hope,” 40-year-old Mary Anne Baril, whose corn and rice crops were spoiled in the storm, told AFP.

“We have no other means to survive,” she said through tears.

More than 105,000 people fled their homes in the largely rural region.

‘High threat’ to Hong Kong

An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.

The dead included many killed in landslides, a girl who drowned and a security guard crushed by a falling wall. In addition to those killed in the Philippines, a woman was swept out to sea in Taiwan.

The country’s deadliest storm on record is Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international: “Haiyan”), which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.

Ompong has weakened since blasting through the Philippine coast on Saturday, but was packing sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour (110 miles per hour) as it hurtled toward China’s heavily populated southern coast. /cbb

Don’t miss out on the latest news and information.